Whatever happened to all the Mrs. Wilkersons? It was Tommie
Wilkerson, a guidance counselor at Oakland's Technical High in
the mid-1970s, who enjoyed watching stolen bases so much that
she promised young Rickey Henderson a quarter every time he
swiped one. "I just started running and never worried about
getting thrown out," Henderson says. "You go every chance you
get when you're stealing bases for your lunch money. Ever since
then I just never stopped running."
Henderson credits his "football body" for his ability
to steal bases for so long.
(Michael Zagaris)
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At 39, Henderson has run his way into a tie for the American
League lead with 23 stolen bases through Sunday, a startling
testament both to Henderson's amazing physical condition and the
lack of competition. The 20-year veteran becomes almost
melancholy when he harks back to his early days with the Oakland
A's and the spirited trash talking that took place between him
and bitter basestealing rivals such as Willie Wilson, Vince
Coleman and Tim Raines. "It's like I've been in this really long
race, and back at the start I had all these guys running with
me," Henderson says. "But now I look over each shoulder and I
say, 'Where is everybody?'"
Nowadays baseball is a world gone straight—hardly anybody
steals anymore. This season there have been only 1.35 stolen
bases per game, the lowest average since Henderson arrived in
the big leagues in '79, and the rate of thievery is down 7% just
since last season. While Henderson has stolen 80 or more bases
six times in his career, nobody has stolen 80 since both
Henderson and Coleman reached that mark 10 seasons ago. The
National League has had six different stolen base champs in the
past six seasons, and only once did the leader steal more than
60. The populace has become so law-abiding that while Henderson
holds the alltime record with 1,254 steals, Raines, with 799, is
the only other active player to possess even half of that total.
So why is stealing bases a dying art? "There is more emphasis
put on the long ball, and the best way to make big money in the
game now is to hit home runs," says Mariners shortstop Alex
Rodriguez, who had 12 steals at week's end to go along with his
21 homers. "Fans used to enjoy the stolen base more than they do
now, and that's too bad. Watch television and all you see is
home run highlights. You don't see stolen base highlights."
But the change is not only in offensive philosophy. The defense
is also becoming more creative in limiting the larceny. "In my
early days pitchers didn't have the slide step or quick moves to
home plate," Raines says. "They might throw over to first a
couple of times, but now they throw over more and they speed up
their motion. To get a stolen base nowadays, you have to hope
the catcher throws it in the dirt or the pitcher throws a
breaking ball."
Still, the single most important factor may be a shift in the
mind-set of the modern player. "You don't get paid for stolen
bases, and management doesn't appreciate them," says Baltimore's
Eric Davis, who stole 80 while batting cleanup for Cincinnati in
'86 but hasn't swiped more than 50 since. "When I stole 80
bases, the only thing the Reds did was complain about the games
I missed because I was worn down. So I figured out what was more
important for me to slack off on—home runs, driving in runs,
playing defense or stealing bases—and it was stealing bases. If
they would understand the risk of injury, understand it and
support you, you'd have more guys stealing bases."
Henderson credits his "football-type body" for allowing him to
remain healthy throughout his long career (see chart), and he praises former
A's teammate Davey Lopes for teaching him to pick the right
pitches to steal on. He also vows to keep running despite the
fact that he takes a beating doing so. Besides the aches and
pains that come from his headfirst slides, Henderson says he
also gets banged up diving back to first on pickoff attempts.
"When you think about how much trouble it is to steal just one
base—and he's stolen more than 1,000—what he's done is hard to
even imagine," marvels the Rangers' 29-year-old Tom Goodwin, who
was tied with Henderson in the American League steals race at
week's end.
While Henderson waxes poetic about the day that Goodwin or
another young challenger will steal his season record for steals
(130), he acknowledges that the philosophy of the game will have
to shift again for somebody to swipe that many bases. "You have
to be a little crazy to love the challenge of stealing bases as
much as I do," Henderson says. "I remember when I was in Little
League, my grandmother told me that if I came home with a clean
uniform, I didn't really play baseball. There just aren't that
many guys left who believe that."
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Issue date: June 15, 1998
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